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ActiveLibrary[Utility & Helpers](/categories/utility)

rhlt/env
========

A basic and efficient .env file parser, to load environment variables from a file. With flexible support for variable interpolation and graceful syntax errors handling.

v1.0.0(7mo ago)03MITPHP

Since Oct 7Pushed 7mo agoCompare

[ Source](https://github.com/rhlt/env)[ Packagist](https://packagist.org/packages/rhlt/env)[ RSS](/packages/rhlt-env/feed)WikiDiscussions master Synced 1mo ago

READMEChangelogDependenciesVersions (2)Used By (0)

Basic .env parser
=================

[](#basic-env-parser)

This is a small PHP script that can parse and load .env files into environment variables. At only 5 KB, it is intended to be simpler and more efficient than existing library solutions.

Basic usage
-----------

[](#basic-usage)

Available via Composer (`composer require rhlt/env`), or by manually including `env.php`. It contains a single function `load_dontenv($path)`:

```
include 'env.php'; // "include" is needed only when not using Composer
load_dotenv('.env');

// Now you can access them wherever, for example:
$credentials = [
    'user' => getenv('API_USER'),
    'token' => getenv('API_TOKEN'),
];
```

The idea is to keep sensitive or environment specific values in an `.env` file, which is not committed to source control. They are available in scripts through `getenv()` as well as through `$_ENV[]` and `$_SERVER[]`.

Example `.env` files
--------------------

[](#example-env-files)

Basic syntax:

```
API_USER=username
API_TOKEN=p@sswørd

```

Additional examples:

```
VAR1=value # this is a comment
VAR2='single-quoted value'
VAR3="double quoted value"

# Another comment
VAR4='Use quotes to add the # symbol in a value'
VAR5="Double-quoted values (only) allow \\backslash \"escaping\"\nand newlines"

# Whitespace
VAR6 = Whitespace is allowed
   VAR7     = excessive whitespace is trimmed
VAR8        = '  Whitespace is kept when the value is quoted.   '
VAR9=
# VAR9 is an empty value (alternatively: VAR9="", or VAR9='')

# Variable interpolation: ${NAME}
VAR10=example.com
VAR11=email@${VAR10} # email@example.com
VAR12="You can reach us at ${VAR11}"
VAR13="Backslash escape to get a literal \${VALUE}"
VAR14='The content of single ${QUOTES} is always untouched'

Lines with invalid data will be ignored
VAR15="Quoted value" this will be ignored
VAR16='Value is stored even if the final quote is missing # this is not a comment

```

Syntax errors are handled as gracefully as possible. Note that all variables need to be a single line. Newlines must be entered as `\n` (or `\r\n` if desired) between "double quotes". The file encoding must be ASCII-compatible (such as UTF-8).

###  Health Score

28

—

LowBetter than 54% of packages

Maintenance63

Regular maintenance activity

Popularity3

Limited adoption so far

Community6

Small or concentrated contributor base

Maturity35

Early-stage or recently created project

 Bus Factor1

Top contributor holds 100% of commits — single point of failure

How is this calculated?**Maintenance (25%)** — Last commit recency, latest release date, and issue-to-star ratio. Uses a 2-year decay window.

**Popularity (30%)** — Total and monthly downloads, GitHub stars, and forks. Logarithmic scaling prevents top-heavy scores.

**Community (15%)** — Contributors, dependents, forks, watchers, and maintainers. Measures real ecosystem engagement.

**Maturity (30%)** — Project age, version count, PHP version support, and release stability.

###  Release Activity

Cadence

Unknown

Total

1

Last Release

223d ago

### Community

Maintainers

![](https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/4c1ad860837b9977d2fbe1748c6e988a571ede6d14487f5d9ca6099479ab4dcd?d=identicon)[rhlt](/maintainers/rhlt)

---

Top Contributors

[![rhlt](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/39499953?v=4)](https://github.com/rhlt "rhlt (8 commits)")

---

Tags

dotenvefficiencyphp

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